


we will call this place our home

by TheGardenOfEden



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Adoption, Connell (my oc), Established Relationship, Family, Fluff, Homophobia, Husbands, I don't know how else to tag this, I found this prompt on Tumblr and then I started typing and 13288 words later I'm here, I'm actually in love with my oc, M/M, Married Klance, Neighbors, literally so domestic, literally this is one of the cutest thing I've ever written, parent klance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-23
Updated: 2018-10-23
Packaged: 2019-08-04 10:22:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,167
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16344968
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheGardenOfEden/pseuds/TheGardenOfEden
Summary: He wandered his way over to Keith, resting his head on his shoulder and wrapping his arms around his waist and listening in on what Hunk was saying. Keith didn’t move or say anything or even uncross his arms, only acknowledging Lance by leaning his head against his. Domestic, Lance thought again.(or the one where Lance and Keith are back on Earth and they buy a house and adopt a kid. The neighbors are kind of annoying.)





	we will call this place our home

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by this post: https://fanatical-sanfrancisco.tumblr.com/post/178704768718/so-i-saw-this-on-one-of-those-ads-but-imagine-it (I now realize that the op of this post deactivated so if you desperately want to see the prompt dm on tumblr)
> 
> In this au everything is pretty much the same, except they were in space much longer. Like its been years even for them since they were on Earth. Basically they’re not teenagers anymore. But like other than that everything is the same. Also I know literally nothing about the adoption process, I made everything up, please don’t yell at me.
> 
> Thanks endlessly to Dalia for beta-ing this fic, and also just being great in general.

Lance was ready to burst with excitement as he and Keith stepped over the threshold into their new house. Theirs. Finally. Keith beat him to it, scooping his husband into a tight hug and attempting to swing him around the empty living room. Lance let a laugh bubble from his lips and put his hands on Keith’s shoulders.

Keith stopped moving but kept his arms firmly around Lance’s middle. Lance rested his head on his shoulder, and sighed happily.

“It’s ours, huh?” he breathed into Keith’s neck, “All ours.” Keith hugged him tighter in response. Lance held onto the moment for a few more seconds before pulling back and holding Keith out in front of him.

“C’mon, we have _so much_ unpacking to do!” and he ran out the door. Keith was not far behind him, laughing as Lance talked about all his plans for each room. He knew Keith would be happy just bringing the boxes inside and leaving all the unpacking for tomorrow, but Keith couldn’t deny his husband anything and the way Lance’s eyes lit up at the thought of piecing together their new home was something he could not resist. Lance would never tell Keith but if he asked, he would drop everything and wait a whole month to start unpacking and he would be just as happy. Keith knew this anyway.

 

* * *

 

Lance had insisted that they go and meet their neighbors just to be friendly, which is why they were now stationed outside the pale blue house next door to their own. Lance looked at Keith expectantly, and watched as he grumbled a little but rang the doorbell anyway. Lance felt the weight of the plate of cookies in his hands, and felt Keith’s hand on his elbow.

He loved having neighbors. He remembers playing with his neighbors in Cuba as a kid. He told Keith as much the night before and Keith had laughed and said he never had neighbors and Lance had grinned and said he was a recluse and it was about time he joined society and Keith had shoved him playfully. Lance told him they were going to go and meet their neighbors tomorrow and Keith had grumbled and Lance kissed him on the cheek and went back to washing dishes. Lance liked having a house. It all felt so domestic. It was no different when Lance and Keith had lived on the castle, they still had to do dishes then, and it was just the same. But somehow this was different. It was theirs. And there was something perfect and solidifying about that thought.

The door opened to a woman who looked about thirty-five wearing a blue apron that matched the pale blue of the house. This felt very domestic too. She smiled at them.

“Hi, we just moved in,” Lance smiled and held up the plate of cookies, “Thought we’d drop by and say we’re your new neighbors.” Keith smiled beside him but said nothing.

“Hello, it’s nice to meet you,” she smiled gratefully accepting the cookies,  “Welcome to the neighborhood. I’m Barbara, but you can call me Barb.”

“Nice to meet you, Barb, I’m-” Lance started but was cut off abruptly by a small voice.

“Momma, who is it?” a little girl came up behind her mother and peered up at them with big, curious eyes. She wore a blue apron too, matching her mother. The word domestic crossed Lance’s mind again.

Barb smiled down at the little girl, “Maisie, these are our new neighbors.”

“Hi Maisie,” Lance grins down at her, “you remind me of my niece, Nadia,” the girl grins, “How old are you?”

“Eight!” Maisie exclaims like it’s the best thing in the world, and to an eight year old, it probably is.

“Why don’t you go back inside, I’ll be there in just a moment,” her mother ruffles her hair and Lance watches as the little girl crinkles her nose.

“We’re baking brownies,” Maisie informs them before running back into the house. Lance laughs lightly and turns back to Barb.

“I’m sorry I don’t believe I caught your names,” she asks, setting the cookies on a table just inside the door.

“Oh! Sorry about that, I’m Lance,” he gestures vaguely beside him, “and this is my husband, Keith.” Keith mumbles a friendly hello, and Lance has to swallow a laugh at how genuinely he’s trying to pretend like he wants to be here.

Barb, on the other hand, looks momentarily uncomfortable before schooling her expression and looking backwards into the house, “Well, I should probably get back to the kitchen, don’t want the house burning down.”

“Of course,” Lance grins at her, “Hey! We’re having a housewarming barbeque this Saturday, you’re all welcome to come.” Barb simply nods and shuts the door. Lance looks over at Keith, who is frowning now, “Oh come on, it wasn’t that bad!”

Keith just grabs his hand and starts walking back to their house. But Lance doesn’t miss the way the edges of his mouth quirk upwards. Domestic.

 

* * *

 

Barb and her family don’t show up to the barbeque even though Lance knows they’re home, he can see their car in the driveway. He doesn’t question it though, some people just don’t like parties.

The rest of the paladins show up, a few of Lance’s siblings and Krolia came too. Hunk offered to cook for the thing, and wouldn’t take no for an answer, so as soon as he arrived, he stationed himself at the grill he brought with him (Lance and Keith didn’t own one) and hadn’t moved since. He looked thrilled, though, to be cooking and chatting away with all their friends. So Lance didn’t bother telling him to take a break, Hunk would have just stayed there anyway.

Instead he stood on his back porch and talked to Allura about the Atlas and the move and their new house while he watched everyone else mill about.

Pidge had provoked Marco into an arm wrestling match, and was holding her own pretty well. Coran and Romelle were watching with unbridled curiosity at the new game from Earth. Veronica and Luis were cheering on Pidge and viciously trash talking their little brother as he struggled to keep his arm in the air. Shiro and Krolia were standing off to the side, deep in some unknown conversation, and Keith stood by the grill, grinning widely at something Hunk was saying. Nothing had really changed.

Allura smiled softly at him when he brought his gaze back to her, “I was a little worried when you said you wanted to leave the Atlas,” she admitted, “but being here, watching you and Keith. I’m starting to understand. It’s a nice place, your house, and you two seem really happy.”

“It’s ours,” Lance beamed, as if that was a sufficient explanation. But Allura just nods, knowing better than to try to pry any further meaning from him. It made sense to Lance and Keith, and that was what mattered.

Allura stepped down the porch steps and headed toward Romelle, stopping to stand directly beside her, and watch as Marco challenged Pidge to a rematch. He watched Romelle lean slightly into Allura, just fractionally, but it was there. He raised an eyebrow. _Domestic_ , he thought.

Footsteps came up beside him, and he glanced over to see Shiro standing beside him. He used to think it was weird, being just as close to Shiro as Keith was. In a different way, of course, he could never fill the role of Shiro’s brother, but after everything they went through with Voltron, they were close. After a while it just made sense, though. It wasn’t weird, they were all family. They were all close.

“How’s Adam?” Lance asked, not taking his eyes off his yard. The Garrison had found him barely alive in the wreckage and were trying to slowly bring him back to health, it had been almost a year but he was still holding on. Iverson said it was lucky he survived as long as he did. He was the only survivor.

Shiro sighed, “Much better. They say he should wake up next week.”

“That’s relieving.”

“Yeah,” Shiro chuckled quietly, “It is. Although he certainly won’t be happy to be missing a leg.”

“They gave him a prosthetic, right?” Lanced asked, turning to face Shiro properly, “Like yours?”

“Yeah, Allura helped make it again. And it reacted correctly with his muscles when we attached it, thank god.”

“Who knew this war would cost us an arm and a leg.”

Shiro snorted.

They stood in silence for a few more dobashes, just staring out at the yard.

“I’m not sure how he’ll react to seeing me,” Shiro spoke quietly. It surprised Lance. Sure, they were close, but Shiro rarely came to him with things like this. This was more of a Keith thing. He looked over at his husband.

“I’m sure he’ll be happy to see you,” Lance said, just as softly.

Shiro stared at him, “It’s been so long. I.. we.. he told me not to leave.”

Lance looked back at Shiro. He had never seen him look so helpless and small. It must be eating Shiro alive to not know where he stood with Adam for him to so easily break his stoic positivity.

“I was happy to see Keith,” he said, not knowing what else to say, “I told Keith not to leave, before he went with the Blades. He went anyway. I was furious, I never showed it, but I was. And he was gone for so long. But when he came back, none of it mattered because he was here, and I was happy to see him.”

There was a long silence that stretched between them. Neither said anything, they just gazed at each other. Lance could see the different emotions passing through Shiro’s face.

“Thanks Lance,” he finally said, “Really,” and walked back down the porch steps. Lance stayed back a moment to survey the yard, _his_ yard, before following his brother-in-law down the steps.

He wandered his way over to Keith, resting his head on his shoulder and wrapping his arms around his waist and listening in on what Hunk was saying. Keith didn’t move or say anything or even uncross his arms, only acknowledging Lance by leaning his head against his. _Domestic_ , Lance thought again.

Movement caught his eye and he looked up to see Barb staring down at him from the second floor window with a frown on her face. He offered her a smile, and turned his head back to Hunk, who had turned back to the grill. Keith took the opportunity to turn and kiss the side of Lance’s head and Lance smiled softly at him, knocking their heads together again. Hunk called that the food was ready. It was very domestic, and Lance couldn’t help but smile.

He caught another flash of movement as Barb rushed away from the window, letting her thick curtains flutter violently behind her.

Lance watched as everyone lined up to get food and Hunk proudly served everyone individually. Keith stood with him, still leaning his head against Lance’s, and sighed contentedly.

“I can’t wait till Connell can see this place,” Keith whispered, “he’s gonna be so excited.” Lance hugged him closer to him and nodded into his shoulder.

“He’s gonna love it here,” Lance responded. Connell was nine, he was an orphan. Connell was going to be their son. Eventually. There were some issues with the paperwork and switching school systems and various other things, it was half the reason he and Keith had gotten their own house. But he was going to be theirs, he already was, they just needed to make it official.

Connell loved when they would come to take him out to dinner, or pick him up from school. He loved hearing their stories about being pilots and then paladins. He loved the concept of someday getting to talk to the lions himself. He especially wanted to talk to Red because according to him it was something Lance and Keith shared, and he wanted to share it too, so the three of them could have something together. He loved the idea of having two dads, after not having any. Connell loved them. And they loved him, and they were each other’s.

As if sensing where Lance’s thoughts were going, Keith placed a hand on top of Lance’s arm and whispered, “Soon.” Lance savored the gesture, and remembered for the billionth time why he had fallen so hard and so helplessly for the man in front of him. He squeezed Keith’s middle a little tighter.

“You guys are so domestic, stop it,” Hunk laughed at them, “Come get your food,” he added.

Lance grinned and untangled himself from Keith.

 

* * *

 

It was a few weeks before they were going to tell Connell that they bought a house, that they were one step closer to adopting him (they wanted to tell him in person), that they found _the note._

Keith was coming home from getting groceries, chatting with Shiro on the phone about the upcoming weekend trip to go visit Connell. Shiro told him that Adam was overjoyed that Keith was starting a family and complained about being too old to be a grandfather.

“He’s just going to be his uncle,” Keith spoke in confusion, before quickly adding, “Tell him if he really wants we can tell Connell to call him grandpa, that can definitely be arranged.”

Shiro laughed in response, “Anyway, he says that you have to add the Garrison Hospital as a stop on your trip, he’s dying to see you and to meet Lance.”

“Lance had his class at the Garrison,” Keith was confused again, “I was in that class.” Shiro just laughed. He pulled into the driveway, and said goodbye to Shiro, promising to come visit sometime over the weekend. He gathered the grocery bags from the backseat and walked toward his front door. He was surprised to see Barb walking down the path from their house back towards hers, she hadn’t so much as acknowledged them since their first interaction. He raised a grocery bag in greeting, and the movement caught her eye. She looked up at him, flustered, and then hurried away without so much as a hello. His brow furrowed.

He walked up the front steps and pushed the door open, Lance usually left it unlocked when Keith went to get groceries, knowing full well that instead of taking out his keys to open the door, Keith would just ring the doorbell until Lance answered it if he didn’t. He found Lance laying on the couch, nose in a book, and absentmindedly humming a tune he could’ve sworn Lance’s mother was humming last time they had visited Cuba. He dropped the grocery bags in the kitchen, making sure to put the perishable stuff in the fridge before ditching the rest of the chore and going to stand over Lance. His husband lowered his book and looked up at him. He grinned down at him before leaning over the back of the couch and pressing incessant kisses to Lance’s face. Lance yelped and and tried to push Keith away from him, but he was grinning all the same. Keith pressed a final kiss to his mouth, and pulled back.

“What did Barb want?” he asked curiously, and when Lance looked confused, he clarified, “I just saw her walking down the path from our house, she looked flustered.”

“She never rang the bell or anything,” Lance replied, “Whatever she wanted, she must’ve changed her mind.”

“I guess so,” Keith said, and then yelped as Lance pulled Keith over the back of the couch and on top of him. He settled, laughing, on top of Lance, laying his chin on the other boy’s chest and memorizing the blue of his eyes for the billionth time.

“I love you,” Lance said.

“I love you, too,” Keith said.

They stared at each other for a long time then, just letting themselves get wrapped up in the moment. It wasn’t until after dinner that Keith remembered to check the mail. He grabbed the wad of letters, and began shuffling through the junk as he walked back into the house. He stopped suddenly, reading over the simple note shoved in with the envelopes.

Lance looked up from where he was sitting, “Everything okay?”

“Well, we know what Barb wanted now,” Keith frowned. It had been a whole month since they moved in, he didn’t understand why this was being brought up now, but here he was, staring down at the hateful note.

 

 

**_Hi New Neighbors! Our little girl is very young and impressionable and we would_ **

**_like to know if you could tone down your Godless activities when she’s home from_ **

**_school. Thanks so much! Barb & Tom_ **

 

He handed the note to a confused Lance and watched as his husband’s face turned sour. Lance reread the note a few times before looking back up at Keith. He had hurt and confusion in his eyes, but there was something more there, something like clarity. Like their neighbor’s weird behavior finally made sense.

“At least we know the husband’s name now,” Keith tried to break the tension. They had seen him around plenty of times over the last month, and while Keith had been happy to let him go about his business silently, he had found it odd that he seemed to avoid Lance’s attempts to introduce himself. It made more sense now.

“That’s why,” Lance mumbled, just loud enough for Keith to hear. He could see Lance piecing together all the parts. Keith sighed.

“What should we do?” Lance asked quietly, this was the piece he was struggling to fit into place.

“Do?” Keith echoed, “I mean. There’s not much we can do.”

Lance frowned, “We can’t just let them get away with being homophobic, Keith. They can’t just do that.”

“It’s not letting them get away with it, it’s not letting it affect us,” Keith tried to explain what he meant.

“But it is!” Lance was indignant, “If we just do nothing, they’ll think they’ve won, they’ll think they can just drive us from the neighborhood, and I don’t want that. It’s our house, Keith, ours.”

Keith tried to hold back a smile. Lance had held on tightly to the concept of it being _their_ house, Keith had too, but Lance was so much more vocal about it. It always warmed something inside of Keith at how protective he was about it, how much he cared. It reminded him that he would always have Lance no matter what happened. It reminded him that he would have Lance forever. And that was something Keith held very close to him.

He walked around the couch and sat next to Lance, putting a hand on his shoulder the way they used to when they were much younger and much more insecure. Lance stared back at him expectantly.

“Doing nothing doesn’t mean complying, Lance,” Keith said simply, “Just because we don’t hold a protest in their front yard doesn’t mean we’re going along with their requests. We shouldn’t change anything we do. We’ll just continue to live here like we always do. I’ll go buy  the groceries, and you’ll leave the door open so I don’t obsessively ring the doorbell. You’ll cook when Hunk isn’t here because we both know I would screw up making cereal. Hunk and Pidge will come over sometimes and tease us about how mushy we are and Hunk will make good food and Pidge will threaten to hack our wifi system or whatever even though we all know she already has. And Allura and Romelle and Coran will visit and we’ll watch as Allura and Romelle start seeing past friendship and actually start to admit their feelings and Coran will go off on some nonsense story the way he always does, and maybe if they’ve been away for a long time we’ll get to hear about the things going on in the universe. And Krolia will come visit and smile at us and at our house and say that she misses the calmness of all of this, of living in a house, of having your family right there with you. And Marco and Luis and Veronica will come visit and give me all the blackmail I need against you, and I’ll give them blackmail too and you’ll just scowl at us. And Shiro and Adam will come and you’ll make dumb jokes that make Shiro roll his eyes and make Adam like you even more. And Rachel will come over with Nadia and Sylvio and they’ll play in the backyard and pretend to be pirates or whatever their new obsession is. And your parents will come and gush over us and over you and over our house and our family. And maybe we’ll stay outside just a little bit longer now, just to be petty. Maybe I’ll kiss you more when we can see them watching from the windows, and hey, any excuse to kiss you, right? And we’ll continue to be nice to them so they can’t say anything bad against us except claim that we’re married, which we are, and that’s not bad. Because I love you. And we’ll bring Connell home and he’ll grow up here, and we’ll love him so much. So fucking much. And so we don’t need to do anything. In fact we shouldn’t do anything, we should just keep existing the way we always do, and just keep being really _domestic_ and that’s all we need to do, okay?”

He didn’t realize he was rambling until he looked back towards Lance to see his eyes wide and a huge grin on his face. He felt himself flush.

“You know,” Lance’s smile only grew wider as he spoke, “sometimes I forget how cheesy you really are.”

“Shut up,” Keith grinned back, unable to contain himself. Not that he wanted to. He could practically hear Lance’s voice saying “domestic” in the back of his mind.

Lance leaned forward slipping his arms around Keith’s middle and draping his entire upper body on Keith’s lap, “I love you too.”

Keith let out an amused huff and let his arms drape over Lance’s back, rubbing light circles into the fabric of his shirt. He felt Lance sigh against him. This was the picture of perfection, Keith thought as he picked up the mail to finish shuffling through it.

He sucked in a breath as he stopped at the last letter in the pile, one from the school district in this town. Lance glanced up as Keith tore open the letter with more impatience than he had ever exhibited. He read through the contents of the letter twice over. Lance quirked an eyebrow up at him.

“It went through,” he breathed out. Lance stared at him in confusion, before glancing at the paper in his hands. His eyes read the first line and then he shot upright, disbelief etched on his face. Lance and Keith just stared at each other, the air thick with shocked emotion.

“It went through,” Lance echoed. He then laughed. It was a breathy, short laugh and it voiced Keith’s own emotions better than he ever could.

Now that they had an actual address in the town, the school board had finally let them enroll Connell at the school for the coming school year. This meant that they could finally fill out the last of the painstaking paperwork, they could finally take Connell home. He would finally be theirs. Indefinitely theirs. Forever theirs. He would finally be their _son_.

Keith was laughing now too, surging forward to wrap Lance into his arms and he could feel Lance bouncing in excitement and nervousness. It would only be a matter of time before Connell would sit in this very living room with them. _With them_.

Keith pulled away and jumped up, “I’m going to call the agency,” he announced, “I know you can submit some of the stuff online, I want to see how much of it we can get done now.” Lance just nodded.

 

* * *

 

Lance got home from Hunk’s new apartment two days later to find Keith on the phone with wide eyes. He watched his husband pace the room, a barely contained grin on his face. His head snapped up when Lance tried (and failed) to shut the door quietly.

“Oh wow,” he breathed out, stopping in his tracks. Lance shot him a questioning look, but stayed silent.

“That went a lot faster than I expected it to, you usually hear about these things taking months to process,” Keith spoke into the phone again, “Mine did.” The voice on the other end must have said something good because Lance hadn’t seen Keith grin this wide since he had confessed his love for him all that time ago.

Lance mouthed, “what?” silently as Keith met his eyes. Keith simply walked over to stand directly in front of Lance.

“Listen,” Keith said into the phone, “my husband just got home, do you mind repeating the.. the news for him, I’m going to put you on speaker.”

Lance could feel his heart hammering in his throat and he felt his breathing stop for several ticks as Keith gave him a knowing, shaky grin, and brought the phone away from his ear, pressing the speaker button.

“Um, hello?” Lance managed.

“Hello, you must be Mr. McClain,” a woman’s voice came out of the speaker, “I just called to inform you and your husband that your paperwork was properly processed and aside from a few things you’ll be required to sign in person with a notary, your adoption is complete. Connell can come home with you in a few weeks.”

Lance barely felt his jaw drop, he barely felt his hand reach out to grab Keith’s arm, he barely felt himself breathing. Was he breathing?

Keith let out a shaky breath and widened his grin, “You’ve left him speechless,” he spoke into the phone.

The woman laughed, “Congratulations.”

“Two more questions,” Keith continued, “We were already planning a visit the weekend of the 19th, should we keep this as a visit, or will that be enough time by then?”

There was a pause, then, “Can you take him home that weekend?”

“Can we?” Keith asked, and Lance wondered how he was keeping himself so composed. But when Keith moved his arm out of Lance’s grip and grabbed onto his hand as if it were his lifeline, Lance knew he wasn’t composed at all. Lance knew he was just as speechless as Lance was, but speechless in a way that was different from Lance. Keith was speechless through his actions, and while Lance couldn’t quite form words, Keith could only grip Lance’s hand and stand pointlessly in the middle of the living room. Lance squeezed his hand and Keith gave him a grateful look. He understood.

The typing on the other end of the line ceased and the woman’s voice filled the small room.

“Yes,” she said, “you can take him home that weekend.” And Lance felt like the whole world was swept from under him.

“I had to look up your visit in the database, and change a few things in terms of timing, so you’ll want to check on that, but when you arrive here on the 19th, assuming you get here past 10am, you can finish signing the last of the documents in the morning. As long as there’s no backup that day, you should be able to bring him home the 20th. I’m sure he’ll be happy to get out of the orphanage, that boy is stubborn, but you can tell he doesn’t like it here.”

Connell had refused to go into the foster care system and opted instead to stay at various orphanages throughout his childhood. He had claimed he wouldn’t stay in a real home until he was adopted. That was something that had drawn Lance to him originally. His stubbornness reminded him of a young Keith, but he was goofy in a way that only Lance could really achieve. He was the perfect mix of both of them, and they were immediately attached.

“My other question,” Keith continues with a strong tone, but Lance can hear the waver in his voice, “is can we tell him ourselves?”

“I was just about to suggest that option,” the woman spoke, “We very rarely allow any video calling here, but for special occasions like this we do. We can offer you a video conference with him tomorrow if you like. I’m sure it will be better than your daily calls. Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words.”

Lance knew the woman was trying too hard to be insightful, but at this moment Lance doesn’t care.

“If that’s all, I have a few more calls I have to make today,” the woman speaks again, “Congratulations to you both.”

The call ends. Keith stares at Lance. Lance stares at Keith.

“He’s-” Keith starts but cuts himself off, “We-”

“It went so- I don’t- I’m just-” Lance joins in the stuttering.

“He’s _ours_ ,” Keith says. And Lance feels a tear fall from his eye, and then all of a sudden he’s hugging Keith in the middle of their living room, sobbing in relief and happiness, and he can’t really tell if Keith is crying too, but it doesn’t really matter because he knows that tears or not, Keith feels the same way he does. And he feels all of it at once as they sink to the floor in the middle of their living room, in the middle of their home.

They don’t let go of each other for at least an hour.

 

* * *

 

They decide that no one else should know until Connell does because he deserves to be the first to know. But it proves hard to keep it to themselves when it’s all they can think about. If they still lived on the Atlas, their friends would have noticed how preoccupied the two were days ago, but they lived on their own now, and they could live in their own happy bubble. It was only difficult when Hunk called yesterday, or when Shiro and Adam wanted to check in with Keith and they asked about Connell and Keith could barely contain himself. Lance had watched him hang up the phone to compose himself and then call back, claiming there was a poor connection, all while grinning widely at Lance, like they had the biggest secret in the world.

They now sat side by side in front of Keith’s laptop screen, waiting impatiently for the skype icon to pop up on screen.

Lance leaned forward, resting his elbows on the kitchen table they were seated at. Keith instinctively put an arm around his waist and pulled him the slightest bit closer.

They both jumped as the impatient beeping of an incoming call filled the room. Lance scrambled to accept and Connell’s young face popped up on screen. The boy’s eyes went wide when he realized he could see Lance and Keith.

“Woah!” he exclaimed, his excitement showing through clearly.

“Hey bud,” Keith spoke first, grinning widely, “how’s it going over there?”

“It’s pretty good,” he spoke, “They told me I was gonna be switching schools this year, which probably means that they’re gonna try to put me another foster home, but I don’t wanna do that.” He seemed very concerned about it, and Lance couldn’t help but marvel at how easily he’s opening up to them now. It hadn’t always been this way, but he was glad they’d come this far. Especially now.

He could feel a grin spilling over the sides of his mouth as Connell looked on in increasing confusion.

“It’s a very serious matter,” his small voice said sternly, “These people are hard to argue with, Lance.”

“You know you’re going to have to start calling me ‘Papa’ sometime, bud” he corrected. Connell looked even more confused at this statement.

“I know, but you said…” he trailed off, then continued confidently, “You said I didn’t have to until you adopted me.”

Lance could feel Keith’s face splitting into a grin next to his as they looked at their son. _Their son_.

Connell’s face twisted into one of shock and understanding as he registered what he had said. He covered his face with his hands, and Lance wanted nothing more than to reach out and pry them away from his face, and draw him in close for a hug. _Soon_ , he could hear Keith’s voice in the back of his head. He watched through the screen as Connell looked up at him and Keith, tears threatening to spill over from his eyes. Lance felt his face turn soft. Keith’s hold on his waist tightened a little.

“For real?” the voice was small, almost daring himself to be hopeful.

“For real,” Keith confirmed, “You’re coming home with us, bud.”

“When?” Connell demanded. Lance could see the excitement and relief and emotion simmering just below the surface of his eyes.

“In about two weeks, if that’s alright with you,” Lance answered this time, smiling softly at the screen, “a little less than two weeks, if you want to be exact.” And that was all it took for Connell to start crying. Lance saw Keith move his hand toward the screen fractionally, and reached his own down to squeeze his thigh reassuringly. _Soon_ , he thought at Keith.

“Am I going to live on Atlas?” Connell asked, once he had managed to dry his eyes. Lance looked toward Keith with a grin.

“No,” Keith smiled, “You’re going to live in a house. We were going to tell you about the house in person, but we found out we could take you home, and well, we just couldn’t wait.”

“A real house,” Connell whispered. Lance laughed lightly. Connell got it. It was the same thing he felt when he was first wandering around their house, like he couldn’t believe it was real.

“Do you want us to show you, or do you want to wait till you can see it yourself?” Keith asked.

Connell sat on this tentatively for a minute, then “No, I wanna see it myself.”

Then, “Just show me a sneak peek.”

Lance laughed again and picked up Keith’s laptop, keeping the camera on his face while he walked up the stairs, Keith trailing behind him. He stopped in the middle of the hallway, and turned the camera toward a closed door.

“This is your bedroom door,” he said, peeking around the screen so he could see Connell’s face light up.

“It’s only a door,” Connell said, but Lance could hear the joy behind his words, “That’s a really bad sneak peek, Papa.” Lance looked at Keith wide-eyed, as Keith stared back. Connell had called him Papa for the first time. Willingly and unprompted. Keith grinned at him, and took the laptop from his hands, balancing it in one arm, while he grabbed Lance’s hand with the other.

 

* * *

 

Lance locked the front door behind him, and walked down the porch steps. He yelped, forcing back laughter, as Keith swept him into a hug, pressing a sloppy kiss to his cheek. He ignored the horrified gasp from behind him and the way Barb frantically ushered Maisie inside. He was too happy to care anyway. He turned slightly, and waved at her with a friendly smile as she disappeared into her house with a deep frown.

“You ready?” Keith asked, releasing his grip as he walked towards the drivers side of the car. Lance nodded in response, clambering into the passenger seat. Keith started the car, and was about to push the gear shift to reverse, when Lance grabbed his arm suddenly, tugging a little. Keith looked over at him questioningly, and Lance took the opportunity to press a kiss to his mouth. It was chaste and quick, but it held so much meaning. Emotions beyond words passed between them, and Lance smiled softly when he pulled away.

They were silent as Keith pulled out of the driveway, and began down their street, savoring in the intensity of the moment.

“We’re having a baby,” Lance grinned.

“Oh my god, Lance,” Keith rolled his eyes.

And just like that the road trip started.

 

* * *

 

Keith grabbed Lance’s hand as they walked toward the Garrison Hospital. It seemed futile to visit Adam now when he was supposed to be discharged by tomorrow, but the hospital was on their way, and they wanted Connell to be able to go home immediately at the end of the weekend. So they came before hand.

Keith was nervous, Lance could tell by the way he fiddled with his fingers absentmindedly. He had told Lance that he hadn’t seen Adam since a few months after Shiro disappeared. At first they had kept in touch, but eventually Adam got busy with the Garrison and Keith got busy with trying to find his brother, and they slowly stopped making time to see each other, and eventually all communication dropped off. He had talked to Adam over the phone a couple times whenever Shiro called, but it wasn’t quite the same as seeing him in person. Lance squeezed Keith’s hand in reassurance.

They were brought up an elevator to the third floor, and even from down the hall, Lance could make out Shiro standing in the center of the hallway, arms crossed, waiting for them. He squeezed Keith’s hand again, and Keith relaxed a little.

“Shiro!” Lance called, waving his free hand in the air. He could see Shiro huff out a laugh, and as they neared closer to him, Lance could hear it too.

“It’s good to see you too, Lance,” Shiro clapped him on the back, “Come on, he’s excited to see you both.”

They were ushered into the room to the left of Shiro, and found Adam, sitting at the end of the bed looking at them expectantly. His face broke out into a grin at the sight of them, and he stood up despite Shiro’s protests.

“You can’t tell me you didn’t immediately start using your arm after you got your prosthetic, Takashi,” Adam replied around a smile, Shiro stayed quiet, “That’s what I thought.” He walked over to Lance and Keith, and stared at them for a minute, before pulling Keith into a tight hug. Keith let go of Lance’s hand to wrap his arms around Adam’s back.

“I missed you,” Adam finally said, pulling away from the hug, and holding Keith out in front of him as if he was inspecting him.

“I missed you, too,” Keith breathed out, a smile growing on his features. Lance watched the interaction with a matching smile.

Then Adam turned his attention to Lance, also pulling him into a hug. Lance was startled, but instantly hugged back anyway.

Adam pulled away, and examined them both before saying, “I’m sorry I missed your wedding.”

“Adam, we were in space, how could you have even come?” Keith asked incredulously. Adam simply smiled and turned back to sit on the bed.

“To think that Keith Kogane, the self-proclaimed antisocial _nuisance_ managed to get married before _me_ ,” Adam muttered aloud.

Keith laughed loudly, “Yeah well, I remembered to take the love of my life to space _with_ me.” He shot a teasing look at Shiro. Adam laughed.

“Aww babe,” Lance jumped in at the opportunity to make Keith flush, “I’m the love of your life?” As expected, Lance watched smugly as Keith’s ears went red, and Shiro chuckled.

“So tell me if I remember correctly, Lance,” Adam spoke up, a teasing tone to his voice “but weren’t you the student that hung my shoulder bag from the ceiling of the launch pad? Which, by the way, was very off limits anyway.”

It was Lance’s turn to go red and he glared at Keith when he laughed. He knew he had remembered the name Adam from somewhere.

“No?” Lance tried, but it came out as more of a question, and his flushed cheeks and neck had already given him away.

The rest of the visit went pretty much like that. They told Adam about space, and about falling in love, and about Connell. Lance watched as Shiro sat on the bed behind Adam, and Adam leaned back into him like it wasn’t a big deal at all, like he had barely even registered the action, and he marveled at the domesticity of the action until he realized that Keith had sat down behind him and he had long since been leaning on him too. Adam seemed to be having a similar revelation and they smiled at each other briefly, in a different bubble from the other two before they were sucked back into reality.

When they finally said goodbye, Shiro insisted on having them over soon. Lance assured them that once Connell was really settled, they would take him up on that. Keith swung their hands between them all the way back to the car, and lingered just a few moments longer than necessary before walking around to the driver’s seat. Lance grinned at how they could still act like dumb teenagers in love after all this time. Maybe technically they still were.

 

* * *

 

Lance clung to Keith’s hand as if it was the only thing keeping him from floating back into space. He wasn’t sure if he was more excited or more nervous or both or neither. He watched as Keith tapped his fingers against his thigh.

He couldn’t stop replaying the earlier conversation with the lady at the desk as she filed away some papers and typed absentmindedly into her computer. He couldn’t tell if it was the same lady they had spoken to on the phone a few weeks ago. He had stood on the other side of the desk with Keith while the lady told them that she had to check something with her boss, and she disappeared for several minutes into a room next to the desk. When she re-appeared, she had a smile across her face, and she said they were all set. She told them Connell had been packed and ready to go for the last two weeks, he was so excited. She asked if they needed to be shown to his room. They said no, they had been here enough times.

Now they were walking hand in hand toward the door at the end of the hallway. It was cracked open slightly, and music was playing loudly from it. Connell had mentioned that his latest roommate liked to play music too loudly. They had only met him once before.

They reached the door, and Keith squeezed Lance’s hand once before dropping it and pushing the door open a little more. It opened to show Connell glaring indignantly at the other boy, who just grinned at him and turned the music up a little more. It was some sort of badly mixed rock band that didn’t have very many lyrics and was mostly just indistinguishable guitar solo. Connell once told them that he thought the other boy didn’t even like this music, he just played it to annoy him.

At the creak of the door though, they both look up. Connell’s face lights up immediately as he launches himself off of the bed and hurtles toward them with the full force of a nine year old. Keith has to stumble backwards a little as Connell barrels into him, but Lance places a hand on his back, laughing loudly. The other boy turns off the music.

“Hey bud,” Lance leans down to ruffle the boy’s head, “I heard you’re all packed.”

“I have been for a week!” Connell exclaimed, stepping back from Keith so he could launch himself at Lance instead, drawing out another fond laugh from him.

When Connell finally let go, he bounded across the room to grab his suitcase, taking great care to shove his worn and loved stuffed bunny into the suitcase, and then he looked up at Lance and Keith with wide and expectant eyes.

“When are we leaving?” he asked very seriously.

“Whenever you want to,” Keith answered, “We can leave right now, we can leave after dinner, we can leave in five minutes. That one’s up to you, bud.”

“If there’s anyone you want to say goodbye to, we can also leave after that,” Lance chimed in, remembering the many stories Connell had told them about the other kids in the orphanage when they went for ice cream or talked on the phone.

Connell grinned up at them, “I already said bye to everyone,” he rolled his suitcase over to them, “I want to go now.”

Keith laughed, taking the suitcase out of Connell’s hand, “Whatever you want, bud.”

Connell turned and waved to his roommate, “I hope your next roommate has even worse music taste than you!” His roommate just glared back, and then Connell was running ahead down the hall.

Lance exchanged a glance with Keith before he was taking off down the hall too, leaving Keith laughing behind them with the small suitcase in the doorway of Connell’s old room.

 

* * *

 

Connell talked endlessly on the car ride home. He had taken the bunny back out of the suitcase, and was clinging to it as he rambled excited about anything and everything. He kept trying to guess when they were going to turn off the highway, and every few exits they passed, he would pause his rambling and ask, “Is it this one?” and Lance would just grin and say no and Connell would continue his rambling. When they finally got to their exit, Connell wasn’t paying attention to it, and Lance grinned and interrupted his rambling so he could just say, “yes,” and Connell looked at him in confusion until he looked out the window again and saw they were no longer on the highway. His face had lit up as he stared out the window, and he was left speechless for the first time the entire drive when Keith informed him they were 15 minutes away from home.

Now, they were pulling onto their street, and Connell had his hands pressed against the window of the backseat and was staring with wide eyes at the houses. Lance was turned almost fully around in his seat to watch their son in his excitement, and he tried his best to stealthily take a picture. This was something he would want to remember, the look in Connell’s eyes as he watched the suburban houses go by.

“Hey Connell,” Keith spoke up, tearing his son’s eyes away from the window, long enough that he didn’t realize they were pulling into the driveway, “Welcome home.”

Connell gasped and whipped his head around to look back out the window at the pale yellow house standing stoically in front of them. Keith and Lance both looking back with matching grins on their faces at their son _. Their son._

“We should record this,” Keith mumbled, and Lance instinctively pulled out his phone again. He stepped out of the car and hit the red circle on his phone screen, but barely even bothered to keep the camera pointed in the right direction. He tried his best, but he wanted to witness this with his own eyes more than anything.

Keith got out too, and walked around the car to the side Connell was sitting, and opened the door for him. At first, Connell didn’t even seem capable of getting out of the car, just peering up it with wide eyes. But a few seconds, he was scrambling out of the car and running at full speed toward the house.

“Lance- I mean Papa!” Connell shouted behind him, “This is my house!”

Keith laughed a full and happy laugh, and Lance pointed the camera at his husband, as he ran after their son, and watched as Keith effortlessly picked up the 9 year old and spun him around.

“This is your home,” Lance couldn’t contain his grin as he walked up the front steps after them. Keith set the boy down and fished in his pocket for his keys.

“Ready?” he asked Connell as he pushed the key into the lock, “Wanna turn the key with me?”

Connell nodded enthusiastically and gripped the key, now hanging out of the door, and Keith put his hand over Connell’s, and Lance focused the camera on their hands, and on the count of three, they twisted the key and pushed open the door.

The pure delight on Connell’s face as Keith switched the light on in their living room had Lance grinning wider than he thought was possible.

Connell stood in the doorway and looked around the room. He only moved when Keith gently put a hand on his back to guide him forward and into the house. His mouth hung slightly open as he gazed around.

“This is the living room,” Lance said, “We could sit here on the couch,” Connell looked up at him and Lance grinned devilishly, “Or we could explore.” Connell gasped with excitement at the proposition. Lance could see that he had wanted to, but he also knew that the boy wouldn’t have done so without permission.

“This is your house now,” Keith chimed in, “Nothing is off limits.” And Connell gave them a wide grin before taking off into the house. They laughed and tried to keep up behind him as he wove his way through the small kitchen and the “office” that they really just used for the TV and video games. They watched as he inspected every inch of the house and answered his excited questions about everything.

“What’s upstairs?” he asked, staring upwards with a tentative longing in his eyes. He wanted to go up.

“Why don’t you find out,” Lance prompted. He had long since stopped recording, preferring to just be exploring their house with his husband and his son. He watched Connell barrell up the stairs excitedly, while Keith climbed up after him, laughing at their son’s excited exclamations about how there was more to explore. _Domestic_ , he thought again, before bounding up after them.

He explored Keith and Lance’s room first, bouncing on the bed a little as he jumped onto it and screaming loudly when Lance went in to tickle him. He stood on the bed and examined some of the photos taped to the wall above it.

“Who’s this?” he pointed to a picture of Hunk holding Lance in a headlock and both boys smiling brightly and laughing.

“That’s Uncle Hunk,” Keith said, moving closer to the pictures. Lance hopped onto the bed to kneel beside Connell while he moved onto the next picture.

It was photo of the whole team, posed awkwardly in front of the castle ship well before they’d even really gotten to know each other. Allura is standing in the center and smiling brightly at the camera, Shiro is next to her with a solemn face and what seems to be a forced smile. Hunk and Pidge are next to him. Pidge is glancing down at the tablet in her hands as if she’d rather be looking at it then taking the picture, it was before she’d found her family, so it made sense that she was preoccupied. Hunk is glancing nervously past Shiro and Allura to where Lance and Keith are standing. The two have abandoned looking at the camera entirely and are frozen glaring at each other in the picture. Lance’s mouth is open with a smirk, likely saying something obnoxious, and Keith has his full body turned to the side to glare at Lance with a deep frown on his face. Coran’s thumb made an appearance in the top left of the photo.

Lance explained to Connell who everyone was, and that this was Team Voltron that he’d heard so much about, and Keith had joined them on the bed, and helped go through the rest of the pictures. One of Lance’s entire family, one of Keith and Krolia, one of Keith and Lance holding out their swords next to each other and grinning widely, one of the Lions lined up next to each other, one of Keith in between Shiro and Adam as a kid, and one more of just Lance and Keith smiling at each other.

Connell stopped the longest on a more recent photo of the team, he seemed to be trying to understand it more than the others.

It was taken at the Garrison a few days after they’d been on Earth, and Veronica had taken the picture, allowing everyone to be in it. This time, Shiro stood front and center, grinning but looking slightly preoccupied, this had been the day they found Adam in the wreckage. Coran stood next to him, twisting his mustache and smiling brightly. Next to Coran, Krolia is standing upright, looking directly into the camera and looking happy despite her unreadable expression. On the other side of Shiro, Allura and Romelle are smiling shyly at each other, Allura’s hands clasped tightly in front of her, Romelle’s behind. A faint blush adorning each of their faces. Beside them, Hunk is mid-laugh and has his eyes closed and Pidge is perched on his shoulders and laughing just as hard. Keith and Lance are next to Krolia and Lance has his arm slung over Keith’s shoulder and is whispering something in his ear, and Keith’s eyes are downcast and a devilish smirk is set on his face.

Connell took a few more moments of contemplating the photo and then proclaimed, “I like this one better.”

Lance raised his eyebrows, “Yeah? Compared to what?”

Connell moved back along the bed to the first photo of the team and pointed to it.

“Why do you like that one better?” Keith asked, flopping down between Lance and Connell on the bed.

“Because you guys look happier,” Connell said, then pointed to the first picture again, “In this one you look like you don’t like each other.”

Keith huffed a laugh, “We didn’t like each other in that one.” He looked up at Lance and locked eyes. Lance carded a hand through his husband’s hair and looked back at Connell, who looked incredibly confused. He laughed lightly.

“We didn’t always like each other, you know,” Lance said as Connell came over and sat down next to them, “Back then we were rivals, neck and neck, and we were constantly arguing.” He looked back down at Keith, who now had his eyes closed and a small smile on his lips as Lance continued to run his fingers through his hair.

“But eventually, we grew to stop fighting so much, and we actually became friends,” Lance continued, “And then somewhere along the way, it became so much more than friendship.”

“And now you’re like that picture,” Connell finished for him, pointing up at the more recent picture.

“Yes exactly, now we’re like that picture, except now we have you, so really, we’re a whole new picture entirely.”

Connell seemed to like this idea, smiling to himself as he watched Lance’s hand in Keith’s hair. Lance quietly took a picture of the three of them there on the bed, fully intending to tape it up on the wall with the rest of the photos.

“You ready to see the best part of the house, bud?” Keith asked, still not opening his eyes.

Connell’s eyes lit up, “There’s another place in the house? A best part? What’s the best part? Yes, I want to see it! Can we go now?”

Keith laughed and sat up again, “Come on, I’ll show you.” He stood up and held out his hand which Connell took readily as he climbed off the bed. Keith smiled and offered Lance his other hand. Lance took it just as eagerly.

Keith led them down the hall to the door of Connell’s bedroom and stopped outside. Connell looked up at them curiously, and Keith let go of his hand.

“Go on, open it,” Keith told him, and Connell turned the doorknob and pushed open the door, “This is your room.” Connell’s face lit up again, as he walked further inside, and Keith squeezed Lance’s hand as they walked in after him. Lance put his head on Keith’s shoulder as they stood in the door, and watched Connell take it in. He spun around to face them,

“Dad,” he breathed, “it’s mine.”

And Keith grinned back at him and nodded silently, and it dawned on Lance that this was first time Connell had called Keith “Dad.” Lance squeezed his hand gently.

“Yeah, bud, it’s all yours,” Lance said.

The room itself wasn’t that big, it had room for a twin bed, a desk, and a small bookshelf. Keith and Lance had picked out white furniture, and spent a good two days when they first moved in painting the walls all different colors. They filled it with enough stuff (books, stuffed animals, things on the walls, etc.) that it didn’t look empty but leaving enough room for Connell to build it up himself as he grew up. The bed had a dark blue comforter, and Lance could tell that Connell wanted nothing more than to throw himself onto it. He was hesitant though, as if he didn’t really believe he could.

Lance reached out and gave him a little push further into the room, and that was all Connell needed before he was flying across the room and jumping on the bed with the biggest grin on his face that Lance had ever seen. He was home. Finally, home.

 

* * *

 

Lance all but collapsed onto his bed at the end of the day. It had been both the most exciting and the most exhausting day of his entire life. After Connell had sufficiently tired himself out by jumping on the bed, Keith brought his suitcase inside, and Lance sat him at the kitchen table while he made dinner. He had considered getting take out, but decided that he wanted their first meal together to be home cooked.

He printed out the picture of the three of them on the bed, and had Connell choose the spot on their wall that it should go. Connell was overjoyed to find that he had made it onto the wall so quickly, and spent a good ten minutes deciding the perfect place (directly next to the photo of Lance and Keith smiling at each other).

They tucked him in, and made sure he was okay before retreating back to their own room. Keith was already in bed, as usual, as Lance flopped onto it. He had considered forgoing his skin care routine but decided against it in favor of perfect skin. If he let himself slip now, he’d never get back into his routine.

Keith chuckled at the sight of his husband lying face down on top of the covers, and reached out to shove Lance a little.

“You know,” he teased, “I’ll kick you out of bed if you’re just going to be a lump. I’m not going to sleep with a lump.”

Lance glared up at him, “Yeah you would, you love this lump.” Keith simply hummed in response, a small smile gracing his features. Lance moved to slide under the covers and snuggle into Keith. He let his eyes fall closed as he rested his head on Keith’s shoulder and draped an arm over his torso.

“Hello, lump,” Keith kissed the side of his head, moving his arms so that they were around Lance. Lance just grumbled in response.

They lay there for a few minutes, just basking in each other’s warmth before Lance spoke up again.

“We have a kid,” his voice came out quieter than he intended it to, but he couldn’t care less.

Keith huffed out a disbelieving laugh, “Yeah, we do.”

There were a few more seconds of silence as the two started to grow sleepier, before Keith breached the silence, “Speaking of our son…”

As if on cue, Connell pushed the door open shyly, stuffed bunny dangling from his arm, and looked up at the bed. Lance sat up and smiled down at him.

“What’s up, bud?”

Without replying, Connell simply climbed up onto the bed, slid his way in between Lance and Keith and promptly fell asleep. Lance locked eyes with Keith and Keith gave him the dopiest lovestruck smile, and Lance was sure his face was mirroring Keith’s.

“We have a kid,” Keith whispered around his smile, and Lance nodded in response. _They had a kid_.

He laid back down and settled in next to the sleeping boy, and Connell subconsciously cuddled into his dads, and Lance was sure he wouldn’t stop smiling even after he fell asleep. _This_ , he thought, _is the definition of perfection_.

 

* * *

 

Lance’s mother was the first person to visit once Connell was settled. She was dying to meet her new grandson, and she insisted on doing so as soon as humanly possible. She arrived the day after Lance had casually mentioned that she should come visit sometime, and left her husband to stay with his siblings and nieces and nephews for the weekend.

Keith opened the door and was unbelievably surprised to find his mother-in-law standing in front of him, suitcase in hand and a fiery determination in her eyes.

“Keith!” she exclaimed, opening her arms and pulling him into a hug, “It’s good to see you.”

“It’s good to see you too,” Keith spoke, startled, and let himself be pulled in as he yelled behind him, “Lance! You didn’t tell me your mom was coming!”

Lance emerged from the kitchen with a look of confusion on his face until he saw his mother standing in the doorway.

“Mama!” he exclaimed, running forward and throwing his arms around her, “What are you doing here? I said you should consider a visit yesterday, not hop on a plane immediately.” But he was grinning from ear to ear, and Keith knew he was just as happy that his mom had arrived as she was.

“Mijo, look at you, you own a house now,” his mother held him out in front of her, and Keith saw the pride radiating off her in waves, “my baby’s all grown up.”

“Yeah, Mama, I can show you around if you like,” he stepped aside to let her in, and Keith silently reached for her bag.

“You will do no such thing,” she whacked him lightly on the shoulder, “I did not come all this way to see your house, Leandro, I want to see my grandson.” There was a smile in her eyes as she teased Lance, and it gave Keith the same warm feeling he had every time they spent time with Lance’s family.

“Papa?” a curious voice sounded from the kitchen doorway behind them, and Keith grinned at Connell as he set the bag down inside.

Connell hopped over and stood next to Keith, flour all over his hands from his and Lance’s new baking project. He peered curiously up at Lance’s mother with big eyes.

“Connell, this is your Abuela,” Lance grinned, crouching down and taking his hand. It was only now that Keith could see that Lance’s hands were also covered in flour.

“Abuela?” Connell asked, looking back up at her, and after a few seconds he grinned, “Hello!”

“Oh come here, nieto,” she crouched down too and opened her arms, which Connell readily ran towards.

“Connell, bud, you should wash your hands first,” Keith tried to stop him, but he was in her arms before he could even reach a hand out. She grinned devilishly up at Keith, and he was struck by the similarity of her and her son’s smiles for the billionth time.

“If my son can waltz over here and get flour all over my shirt without thinking twice, then my grandson certainly can get away with it,” she proclaimed, and then picked up Connell with surprising agility as he squealed in delighted surprise. Keith reminded himself that she had had four children and two other grandchildren before this.

Connell discovered that he really enjoyed having an Abuela to spoil him and partake in all his baking adventures when Lance had other things to do. She had brought him a few books and other trinkets, and he was delighted when she made her famous garlic knots. Keith just liked watching him interact with her. He liked watching him in general. Having a nine-year-old certainly gave him a different perspective on life, especially a loud and overly curious one who liked to stick his nose into trouble and find a way to get his fathers to let him get away with it.

After two days, Keith called Krolia and she came to visit for the day as well. The two mothers had always gotten along well, and now with a grandchild to share between them, they were best of friends.

Connell had decided very quickly he liked having a Grandma just as much as having an Abuela, and that having them both at the same time was by far the best thing. Krolia liked to take him on “adventures” to the nearby parks and she ran around with him in the backyard, and much to Lance’s and Keith’s dismay, he liked when she showed him how her knife could turn into a sword. He laughed especially loud when she told him that Keith had almost been named Yorak, and Lance had smirked at Keith with a glint in his eye that said, _Now that our son knows I will never let you live this down_.

It wasn’t long after that Shiro and Adam came to visit. Keith had tried to tell them that they would go visit them, but just as Keith had suspected they would, they arrived unannounced one morning, and Connell was very excited to meet them. He liked having uncles like Uncle Shiro and Uncle Adam. He had tried to call them “grandpa” at first, but Shiro shut down that idea very quickly. He thought their prosthetics were “super cool” and he liked when Shiro sat on the couch and watched his arm float every which direction. He liked that Adam was able to tease Lance and Keith almost more than they teased each other.

After that all the paladins’ visits became more regular and more familiar. Uncle Hunk helped Connell with his love of cooking, and it wasn’t long before he could cook a full meal (just spaghetti) by himself. He constantly asked his fathers to let him cook dinner, and every once in a while (at least one a week), they would give in, and one of Lance or Keith would supervise him, but their assistance was rarely needed. He was a fast learner when it came to cooking. Keith speculated that he would be a spectacular cook by the time he was in high school, and Lance just nodded and laughed and told him to stop looking so far ahead. Pidge, or as Connell called her, “Pidgey”, would help him go on adventures in the backyard, and sometimes she brought over a VR projection that she created herself so the adventures could seem that much more real. She taught Connell how to play video games, and Connell liked to ride on her shoulders around the house. Allura and Romelle and Coran told him stories of space, and promised to take him when he was older, which had Keith and Lance sharing a look. He thought Coran’s mustache was funny, and Keith had to keep himself from crying laughing when Connell innocently looked up and Allura and Romelle and asked if they were married. The flustered looks on their faces were enough to send Lance into hysterics, but Keith tried to hold himself together.

Veronica, or “Tia Roni” as Connell had affectionately deemed her, was over constantly and he liked to hear her stories of what was happening at the Garrison. He had been to visit a couple times with Keith and Lance, but he liked to get the “inside scoop” on what was happening. Tio Marco liked to come over and teach Connell all the dumb outdoor games he and Lance had played as a kid like hopscotch and freeze tag. Tio Luis would always bring a new flavor of chocolate with him when he came and Connell liked to pretend to be a stuck up chocolate critic as he tasted them.

He liked especially when his Abuela came to visit the second time because she brought along his Abuelo and Tia Rachel and Tio Alex and his cousins, Nadia and Sylvio. He especially liked having other kids his age around, as Nadia was a year younger than him and Sylvio was a year older. He proclaimed that it was meant to be because his age fit in between. He liked that Rachel and Alex were just as affectionate with him as they were with their own kids. He liked doing math and logic puzzles with his Abuelo and hearing stories about Lance as a kid. Whenever there was a rare quiet moment, Keith could guarantee an excited voice coming from somewhere asking, “Abuelo, can you tell me another story about Papa when he was my age?” And Lance would groan around a barely contained grin and it would send Connell into a fit of giggles and all the children would sit around their grandfather and listen to him spout stories about their parents when they were younger.

One of his favorite visits was when he got to go to the Garrison with Keith and Lance, and they would take him to meet the Lions. Red immediately warmed up to him the first time, which Keith was surprised by, but when the child of both his former paladins walks into his hangar, it would make sense that the giant cat was excited. Connell had stared up at him in amazement when Red growled lowly and bent his head down so the child could pet his metal face. Black took a moment of reassurance from Keith before lowering his head, and staring down at the curious and excited child. After a few visits, he even let Connell into the cockpit without Keith having to ask.

The months flew by quickly, and soon Keith and Lance were going school shopping with Connell, getting him ready to start at a new school. Connell was much less nervous about it that Lance had expected, but Keith reminded him that this wasn’t his first new school. It was, however, the first school that Connell wasn’t going to eventually leave, and so he was far more excited to make some permanent friends than he was nervous about being new.

He picked out a backpack with the Voltron lions on it, Red and Blue specifically. Keith had done a double take when his son held it up because “They sell things like that now?” and had been doubly perplexed when he found his face on another backpack that pictured all the paladins together in a fighting stance. He remembered taking the promotional picture, but he hadn’t realized it was going to end up everywhere. Lance was overjoyed by the sight, and Keith had to talk him out of buying it. They got the lions backpack for Connell though, and Keith tried to ignore the wide eyes of the cashier as he checked them out.

 

* * *

 

It was only a few days before summer ended that Lance was in the front yard trying to replant a flower that had been slowly dying, and Connell was running around pretending to be something or other. Lance had been so preoccupied with the task at hand he hadn’t even realized that Connell had started an animated conversation with Maisie between their front yards. He started tuning in, though, when Barb appeared behind Maisie, and introduced herself to Connell. He sat back on his knees to watch the exchange.

“Hi sweetheart,” Barb smiled brightly at Connell, “What’s your name?” Lance was surprised that Barb didn’t recognize him from all of her disdainful staring out the window since Connell spent so much time outside.

“I’m Connell!” he spouted out, excited to meet new people, “Maisie was telling me about her baking projects, I have baking projects too!”

“Oh wow, that’s exciting,” Barb grinned, “Maybe you can come bake with us sometime.” Connell’s eyes lit up at that and Lance smiled, that would be nice.

“Connell says he’s nine years old, and I just turned nine so we’re the same age,” Maisie looked up at her mother, “He says that he’s gonna be in Ms. Eckert’s class this year, we’re gonna be in the same class.”

Lance breathed a sigh of relief at that, Connell would know one person in his class, he was glad he wouldn’t be going in alone. He sucked the breath back in a moment later at Barb’s next words, knowing the conversation was heading toward a touchy subject.

“Connell, are you lost?” she asked, concern showing in her eyes, “Do you live around here? Who are your parents? I just want to make sure you’re not wandering the neighborhood alone.”

Lance watched the scene with a little regret, he didn’t want Connell to be pushed into the reality that not everyone liked the idea of having two dads, and not everyone would like him.

“I live right there,” he pointed enthusiastically at his house, “and my parents are Papa and Dad, or I guess you would know them as Lance and Keith. They’re the best dads in the whole world. And Papa is right there in the garden.” Connell waved at Lance as he rambled, and Lance waved back, grinning at Connell’s proclamation that he was the best. He stood up and stipped off his gardening gloves, before walking over and ruffling Connell’s hair.

“Hi Barb, it’s nice to see you,” he smiled brightly at her, “I see you’ve met my son.”

She looked like she didn’t know what to do with herself, looking flustered and almost enraged. She gave him a hard glare that was meant to warn him of something before bending down and talking gently to Connell.

“Hey Connell, have they hurt you? If they’re corrupting you, you can always-”

“How dare you assume that I or my husband would ever hurt our son,” Lance cut her off. He was one for playing nice at all costs, but this crossed a line.

She stood up again, and her face held a deep frown and her eyes looked angry beyond belief.

“To think your kind would have the audacity to think you’re capable of raising a child,” she spat in his face, before grabbing a confused Maisie’s hand, “Come Maisie, I never want you talking to Connell or his parents again.”

“But the baking projects! What about Ms. Eckert’s class?” Maisie protested, but let herself be pulled away.

“I said no,” her mother’s words were final, as they marched into their house.

Lance sighed heavily and looked down at a confused Connell, who looked back up and waited for an explanation of why he’d just lost his newest friend.

“Come on, bud,” Lance spoke solemnly, “Let’s go find your dad.”

They found Keith at the kitchen table, staring into his computer as he talked animatedly to Shiro. He looked up when Lance walked in, and with one glance at Lance’s face, he hurriedly hung up.

“Hey Shiro, I’ve gotta go,” he spoke quickly, “I’ll call you back later.” He closed his laptop, and welcomed Connell climbing up on his lap. He looked expectantly up at Lance with a worried glint his eyes.

“Connell and Maisie became friends today,” he began, and Keith raised his eyebrows.

“No we didn’t,” Connell chimed in bitterly, “she’s not allowed to talk to me.”

A look of understanding passed over Keith’s face, and Lance could see his arms tighten fractionally around Connell. He sighed again.

“Barb accused us of corrupting him, and I kind of snapped at her, and she angrily stormed away with Maisie in tow while yelling at her to never talk to us again,” Lance explained further.

“What did she mean that ‘your kind’ can’t raise a child?” Connell asked, and Lance could see his husband visibly tense. Keith looked up at Lance with an anger in his eyes, and Lance ran a hand through his hair. Keith relaxed a little at that, recognizing Lance’s anxious tick.

“Barb doesn’t like me and Lance,” Keith started to explain, “she doesn’t believe that we can love each other because we’re two boys. She thinks that simply because you have two dads that we can’t love you correctly, and she thinks that you’re going to grow up corrupted.”

“But none of that is true,” Lance added, moving to sit next to the two at the kitchen table, “because we love you very much, and you’re absolutely perfect. So you never have to worry about that.”

Keith nodded, “Sometimes there are people who don’t like us. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be nice. So you can keep being friends with Maisie and keep being nice to her when you see each other.”

“You’re going to be in the same class next year,” Lance added, “I’m sure you’ll become friends anyway.”

“So it’s like you and Dad,” Connell finally spoke up, and Lance and Keith shared a confused look.

“How?” Keith asked.

“Because you didn’t like each other at first, like in the picture, but then you started to like each other a lot. So maybe Maisie’s mom and you guys fight a lot right now but eventually you will become friends,” he explained, so sure of himself that Lance was almost inclined to believe him.

“I’m not so sure it’s as easy as that, bud,” Keith voiced Lance’s thoughts quietly.

Connell just shook his head, “Papa said he wasn’t sure if you would ever like him when you guys were always fighting, so yes it is.”

Keith huffed a laugh and ruffled his son’s hair, “When did you become so smart, huh?” Connell beamed happily up at him.

“For now, how about we try baking those pumpkin cookies you’ve been pestering me about,” Lance smiled, “Uncle Hunk is coming tomorrow, and I know you want to show them off.”

“Yes! Did you get all of the ingredients?” Connell bounced excitedly off of Keith’s lap and ran over to the cupboard, proceeding to try and haul the massive bag of flour out.

Lance laughed and stood up, but Keith caught him by the hand before he could walk over and assist their son. He pressed a kiss to Lance’s hand and let go, and Lance smiled down at him, feeling a warm happiness spread over him.

This was his house and his life. This was his family. And that, in itself, was enough.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Should I turn this into a multi chapter thing? I don't know. I'm tempted.
> 
> Do y'all want more?
> 
> Also, die with me on tumblr: https://voltrontrashnumber3.tumblr.com


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